Frank Darabont

“The Mist,” Frank Darabont’s 2007 Stephen King adaptation about a group of people stranded in a market after a strange fog settles over their New England town, concludes on an undeniably bleak, profoundly heartbreaking note. Even star Thomas Jane seemed rattled by it when he took his seat on stage beside writer-director Darabont following a screening of “The Mist” at the Hero Complex Film Festival earlier this month. “I just slipped in and caught the last 10 minutes or so because I got here a little early,” the actor, a surprise guest, told the crowd. “I kind of wish that I hadn’t.” Darabont points out that the ending — which we’ll refrain from revealing here — has roots in King’s 1980 novella, though it differs from what the author wrote. (“The Mist” was the Oscar nominee’s third King adaptation, following […]

With his 2007 horror film “The Mist,” writer-director Frank Darabont, adapting a 1980 Stephen King novella, charts what happens to a group of people trapped in a shopping market after a mist envelopes their town. As they learn of the presence of deadly, unearthly creatures outside, the debate over what to do splinters the survivors, with camps organizing around Thomas Jane’s character, artist and father David Drayton, and Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden), a doom-prophesying religious fanatic. The humans prove as fearsome as the beasts and face terrible, heartbreaking choices. At the fourth annual Hero Complex Film Festival, Darabont and the film’s star Jane took the stage following a screening of “The Mist” to talk about the process of making the movie, which famously concludes with what Darabont described as “an angry, bleak ending.” Darabont and Jane said improvisation played […]

Thomas Jane as Rick Grimes? It might have happened if “The Walking Dead” creator Frank Darabont had had his way. At a special Q&A following a Hero Complex Film Festival screening of “The Mist,” Darabont, addressing a question from an audience member, spoke briefly about the thematic similarities between two pairs of projects on his resume — the Stephen King adaptations “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile,” and his 2007 horror film, which follows a group of people trapped in a shopping market after a mist envelopes their town and charts their personal devolution as they face terrible, heartbreaking choices, and the hit AMC zombie series he launched in 2010. He also pointed out that he initially had wanted the star of “The Mist,” actor Thomas Jane, to play lawman Rick Grimes, the part that eventually went to actor Andrew […]

Taking his chair after the intense, haunting ending and solemn credits of “The Mist,” its star, Thomas Jane, seemed newly rattled by it. “I just slipped in and caught the last 10 minutes or so because I got here a little early,” the actor, a surprise guest at the Hero Complex Film Festival, told the crowd Saturday afternoon. “I kind of wish that I hadn’t. … That was really hard. That’s powerful, man.” “You know this movie came out on Thanksgiving weekend?” he asked, to audience laughter. “Nothing says the holidays like flesh-eating tentacles,” added the film’s writer-director, Frank Darabont. The 2007 horror film follows a group of people trapped in a shopping market after a mist envelopes their town. As they learn of the presence of deadly, unearthly creatures outside, debate over what to do splinters the survivors, with […]

Visionary genre talents Guillermo del Toro, Frank Darabont, Roland Emmerich, John Carpenter and Chris Carter will be among the special guests at the fourth annual Hero Complex Film Festival, set to take place May 10-12 at the Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood. The festival will open May 10 with a double feature from writer-director Carpenter — a 25th anniversary screening of “They Live” and a 35th anniversary screening of his landmark horror film “Halloween.” The always candid and entertaining Carpenter will appear in person between the films to discuss his career, which has produced genre favorites such as “Assault on Precinct 13,” “Escape From New York,” “The Thing,” “Big Trouble in Little China,” “Starman” and many more. On May 11, writer-director Darabont will be on hand for an afternoon screening of his 2007 Stephen King adaptation “The Mist,” the riveting […]

At Showtracker, our must-read sister blog on all things television, Maria Elena Fernandez talks to Andrew Lincoln about humor amid the horror. Here’s an excerpt… Remember the eerie opening of “The Walking Dead“? It was spooky and compelling, but … was it funny? It was to Andrew Lincoln, who plays the dazed and confused sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes who walks out of a hospital into a zombie apocalypse on AMC’s hit series “The Walking Dead.” “When I did the looping for Episode One, the opening three-minute sequence with Rick walking into the gas station and the girl zombie, I laughed out loud,” Lincoln said during a phone interview on Thursday. “I knew what was coming but I laughed out loud. I was so shocked by it. It’s certainly an intense sequence.” The British actor says he’s been so surprised by […]

Oscar-nominated writer-director Frank Darabont is gearing up to unveil his new AMC series “The Walking Dead” on Halloween, and for the next few days, Hero Complex contributor Gina McIntyre will be talking with some of the show’s key figures about bringing Robert Kirkman’s respected graphic novel to the small screen with a big splash. Today, she chats with Darabont about the secret to great adaptations and indulging his inner geek. G.M.: People who know you as the director of “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile” might be surprised that you have a background in the genre. F.D.: It’s funny, people walk into my home or my office and I wear my geek on my sleeve, truly. I’ve got toys and vintage posters all over the place, every little item that you could imagine that screams genre geek. I always […]